This Day Forward signed to Equal Vision Records in late 2002 with a new guitarist, Brendan Ekstrom, formerly of 200 North,[2] by which time they had already completed several US tours, and in the following year released In Response.
This album strayed even farther from their initial sound, largely abandoning the screams and incorporating more traditional song structures as well as softer backing vocals by Taver.
Among the rumors circulating were that some members were dissatisfied with In Response or disillusioned with the hardcore scene, but none of these appeared substantiated, although at one of their final shows with Poison the Well, Mike Shaw walked offstage in the middle of a song after a fight broke out, saying, "And then you wonder why bands break up."
Taver had teamed up in an acoustic emo side project called Superstitions of the Sky with the former Hot Cross guitarist Josh Jakubowski before This Day Forward had split up.
He also appeared on Hot Cross's 2004 EP Fair Trades and Farewells, Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer's first full length album Jalopy Go Far and played guitar and performed lead vocals in Marigold before leaving and moving to California in summer 2006.